FOOD NOTES

PREMIUM PRESERVES

A generous spoonful of a piquant gooseberry chutney or a zingy redcurrant jelly is just the thing to liven up all sorts of meals from salads and sandwiches to cheeseboards, cold meats and even fish (the sharpness of gooseberry pairs beautifully with oily fish like mackerel). Both gooseberry chutney and redcurrant jelly are included in Swinton Estate’s beguiling range of top-quality preserves. All of them are made from produce that was grown by Dame Susan Cunliffe-Lister in Swinton Park’s fabulous fouracre walled garden and expertly prepared by Swinton Cookery School’s talented chefs. You can buy Swinton Estate preserves from the Swinton Estate shop (swintonestateshop. com) just outside Swinton’s Country Club & Spa.

BRILLIANT BEEF

Beef Shorthorn is a traditional and very sturdy breed of cattle, well suited to spending the majority of the year grazing the airy pastures at Greensley Bank, high in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Slow to mature when reared naturally, Beef Shorthorns produce well marbled and especially tasty beef. Autumn, after each animal has had a full summer out at grass, is the optimum time for flavour. You can buy 10kg or 15kg boxes containing a selection of cuts of this mouthwatering local delicacy directly from Greensley Bank. Email paulchambers@ greensleybank.co.uk or call 07775 813242. For information about Greensley Bank’s other products visit greensleybank.co.uk

FRUITY FUN

Autumn means apples galore – and what better way to celebrate this splendid seasonal bounty than to pop along to Ripon Walled Garden’s Apple Day between 10am and 4pm on Saturday 9th October? If you’ve got apple trees of your own, you can bring your fruit with you and have them pressed into fabulous fresh juice. There’ll also be children’s games, a barbecue, drinks, ice creams, craft stalls and plenty of delicious homemade baked goods. Visit the Walled Garden’s orchard to marvel at the Victorian apple and pear trees, and stop by at the tearoom to enjoy a delicious ‘plot to plate’ meal. To keep up to date with events at the Walled Garden, follow Ripon Community Link on Facebook or Twitter.

UNIQUE ALE

If you enjoy eating Yorkshire puddings with your Sunday roasts then quite possibly you’ll enjoy drinking them too, because, believe it or not, there’s now a Yorkshire Pudding Beer! And yes, it really is made by fermenting Yorkshire puddings – apparently there’s a quarter of a pud’s worth in every bottle. Brewed by the Yorkshire Pudding Beer Brewery in a listed Victorian building on the banks of the River Derwent in Malton, it’s a light and easy-to-drink pale ale. “You’ll try it once for the novelty, then buy it again because you like it!” they tell us. Readers keen to put this claim to the test can buy Yorkshire Pudding Beer from Campbells of Leyburn, campbellsofleyburn.co.uk

TOP GRASS

Love lamb? Then you won’t want to miss out on Mainsgill Farm Shop’s splendid home-reared, grassfed Texel lamb. Texels are small, hardy, good-natured sheep that produce rich, sweet meat when reared on grass – which is exactly how they’re raised at Mainsgill, where they crop the lush, verdant slopes of secluded, scenic Holmedale. So why not try Mainsgill’s leg of lamb, loin chops, leg steaks or boned and rolled shoulder? You’ll find that Texel meat is super-tasty and the loin chops and leg steaks are especially lean. Mainsgill also sell half-lamb meat packs – ideal if you’re looking to stock the freezer. For opening hours and online shopping visit mainsgillfarm.co.uk If you think that the best quality pasta comes from Italy, think again! The Yorkshire Pasta Company is a Malton-based, family-run business dedicated to creating premium quality pasta from the very finest locally milled wheat flour. Their carefully mixed pasta dough is shaped with traditional bronze dies rather than the Teflon ones used by industrial manufacturers, then slowdried for optimum flavour. The Yorkshire Pasta Company’s range currently includes fusilli, penne rigate, conchiglie rigate and mezze maniche rigate. All are egg-free and perfect for vegans. You can buy Yorkshire Pasta at Fairhursts Cafe and Farm Shop, Swinithwaite near Leyburn, fairhursts.co.uk

PAN-TASTIC

Ripon-based Farmison & Co was created by two restaurateurs who wanted to give home cooks access to the kind of top-quality British meat that was usually destined for big-name restaurants. And now they’ve made fine dining at home even easier with their new Saucepan Ready range – a selection of fresh, tasty, ready-to-reheat dishes created by Michelin-starred chef Jeff Baker. With tempting dishes that range from British classics like Traditional Lamb Hotpot to more exotic offerings such as Beef in Black Bean Sauce, Sweet and Sour Pork and Lamb Madras, they’re equally well suited to easy midweek meals or indulgent sit-down dinners. Find out more about Farmison & Co’s Saucepan Ready range at farmison.com

CLASSIC CHEESE

In bygone days pretty much every dairy farm in Wensleydale made their own cheese. Today there’s just one farmhouse cheese-maker: Home Farm in Aysgarth. Their Old Roan cheese is made by hand, in small batches, from the raw milk provided by the hundred-strong herd of Holsteins and Friesians that graze the pastures of Home Farm from April through to November. It’s aged for up to four months, and the end result is a smooth, creamy cheese that harks back to the golden age of Wensleydale cheesemaking. You can buy Old Roan from selected local delicatessens or from Home Farm’s mobile shop – for full details visit thehomefarmer.co.uk